CK Chemistry — Privacy Notice

How we collect, use and protect personal data · Last updated: 07/06/2026

1. Who we are

CK Chemistry, run by Claire Costello-Kelly (“we”, “us”), is the data controller for the personal data described in this notice. We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), registration reference ZB644563. Contact us about privacy at Claire@CKChemistry.co.uk.

2. The information we collect

  • Contact and account details: name, email address, phone number, and (for under-18 students) parent/guardian name and contact details, collected when you book tuition, buy a resource, or subscribe to our email list;
  • Student and learning information: year group and exam board, attendance, engagement and progress on our learning platform (Tutor LMS), and results of mini-mock or other assessments, including any personalised marking feedback;
  • Session data: recordings of group sessions and any text chat used during them, for the purposes described in Section 4;
  • Payment information: we do not store your card details ourselves — payments are handled by our payment processor(s) Stripe / WooCommerce Payments, who process this data under their own privacy terms;
  • Communications: messages you send us by email or WhatsApp Business, and your WhatsApp contact number if you message our business account;
  • Website and marketing data: pages visited and basic usage data via cookies (see Section 8), and your email address if you subscribe to our newsletter.

3. Why we use your information, and our legal basis

  • To provide tuition and deliver purchased resources — necessary to perform our contract with you;
  • To communicate about bookings, payments, schedule changes, and feedback on assessments — necessary to perform our contract, or a legitimate interest in running the service properly;
  • To keep a record for safeguarding purposes (e.g. attendance, session recordings, any concerns raised) — a legitimate interest in protecting students, and in some cases a legal obligation;
  • To send marketing emails (retrieval-practice content, news, offers) to our list — based on your consent, which you can withdraw at any time by unsubscribing;
  • To improve our website and services — a legitimate interest in understanding how our site is used, supported by cookie consent where required.

4. Session recordings

Group sessions are recorded so that enrolled students can revisit content (and so Year 13 students can access relevant Year 12 sessions). Recordings capture only the tutor’s screen-share and voice; students take part with cameras and microphones off, and we do not include chat content, participant names, or individual student work in what we record. Recordings are accessible to currently enrolled students via our learning platform for at least the current academic year.

 

Because recordings made this way do not identify or relate to any individual student, we may retain them beyond this period and reuse them — for example, editing excerpts into resource bank materials or other resources we sell or publish. Any part of a recording that does capture something identifying (for example, if chat content or a student’s own work were ever visible) is not retained beyond the current academic year and is not reused elsewhere.

5. Children’s data

Many of our students are under 18. We take extra care with this: parents/guardians manage bookings and payment on a younger student’s behalf, we collect no more information than we need to deliver tuition safely, and we write our public-facing materials (like this notice) in plain language so both parents and students can understand them. If you have any concerns about a young person’s data, please contact us — we’re happy to talk it through, not just point you back to this document.

6. Who we share your information with

We share personal data only where necessary, with:

  • service providers who help us run the business: our website host (WordPress.com/Automattic), our learning platform (Tutor LMS), our video platform (Zoom), our payment processor, and our email marketing platform (MailerLite);
  • WhatsApp/Meta, if you message our WhatsApp Business account — your number and messages are processed under Meta’s own terms as well as this notice;
  • a regulator, local authority children’s services, or the police, where we have a safeguarding or legal duty to share information — see our Safeguarding Policy.

We do not sell personal data, and we do not share it with third parties for their own marketing purposes.

7. Where your information is stored

Some of the services above (for example Zoom and Meta/WhatsApp) may store or process data outside the UK. Where this happens, we rely on those providers’ own UK GDPR-compliant safeguards (such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, as applicable), which they publish in their own privacy and data protection terms.

8. Cookies

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies. Some are strictly necessary for the site to work (for example, remembering what’s in your basket at checkout) and don’t require consent. Others — including cookies used for site statistics and marketing — are only set once you’ve given consent via the cookie banner shown when you first visit the site, with one exception: our hosting platform’s built-in traffic statistics (Jetpack Stats) set a single anonymised analytics cookie that isn’t gated by this banner, for technical reasons relating to how our platform combines its scripts. You can change your cookie choices at any time using the settings link in our website footer. For a full, up-to-date list of the specific cookies we use and what each one does, see our Cookie Policy.

9. How long we keep information

  • Active student/parent records: for the duration of enrolment, plus a further 12 months after a student leaves, in case of queries or safeguarding follow-up;
  • Session recordings may be kept for longer than 12 months but do not contain any personal information;
  • Financial records (invoices, payment records): 6 years, as required by HMRC;
  • Marketing email list: until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete your details.

10. Your rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to ask us for a copy of the personal data we hold about you, to correct it if it’s wrong, to ask us to delete it or restrict how we use it, to object to certain uses, and to receive certain data in a portable format. To exercise any of these, email claire@ckchemistry.co.uk. If you’re not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the ICO at ico.org.uk.

11. Keeping your information secure

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal data, including relying on reputable third-party platforms (WordPress.com, Tutor LMS, Zoom, Stripe and Woocommerce Payment Gateways, Mailerlite) for their own security standards, restricting access to student records to ourselves, and using unique passwords for our business accounts.

12. Changes to this notice

We may update this notice from time to time; the current version will always be available on our website with its “last updated” date.

13. Contact us

CK Chemistry, 6 Lin Brook Drive, Ringwood BH24 3LJ. Email: Claire@CKChemistry.co.uk.  ICO registration reference: ZB644563.